


Goodbye To A World

by poochiwi



Category: Naruto
Genre: Anal Sex, Character Death, Depression, M/M, NOT a time-travel fic, Non-canonical understanding of chakra, POV Uchiha Sasuke, Post-Apocalyptic Naruto Universe, SasuNaru - Freeform, Sasuke is a man of few words, Self-Harm, Time Skips, Tragedy, Very short and light depiction of sex, it's all very cheesy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-09
Updated: 2020-10-09
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:08:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,013
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26909413
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/poochiwi/pseuds/poochiwi
Summary: The outcome of the great war was vastly different, with only two surviving shinobi left to meander what is left of the world, trying to make something out of nothing.
Relationships: Uchiha Sasuke/Uzumaki Naruto
Comments: 8
Kudos: 38





	Goodbye To A World

**Author's Note:**

> hello all, this is kind of a weird fic, it was inspired by the song of the same title, and I was trying to go for an overgrown, post-apocalyptic setting i guess  
> for this fic, all you need to know is that when it comes to animals, only companion animals like summons, aka the toads and others, were caught in the Infinite Tsukuyomi, as im only making them have chakra, not regular animals, also think back to the first iteration of Kaguya using the Infinite Tsukuyomi, Haori dies quickly, instead of being drained overtime and becoming a White Zetsu  
> warnings: major and many character deaths, slightly OOC Sasuke and Naruto, reference to and brief depiction of self-harm, suicidal thoughts and depression  
> disclaimer: I dont own the Naruto series

When Kaguya appeared, taking over Madara's body, the darkest of outcomes ended up coming true, as she proceeded to absorb all the chakra and life force of the bodies that were under the all-powerful genjutsu, making them watch as she almost instantly killed all the bodies that had been put under the Infinite Tsukuyomi, her chakra increasing exponentially, and the situation becoming even more bleak; she had said she just wanted all the chakra, and that she'd get it, she didn't care for creating a new Chakra Fruit or an army of White Zetsus anymore.

That was the moment Naruto first felt like giving up, seeing all his friends get killed by Kaguya, the only thing that made it slightly better was knowing they were all in a fantasy world the moment they died, more than likely seeing something that made them happy. It got even worse when Kaguya quickly moved them to a new dimension, Obito dying heroically not too long after.

Kakashi insisted they trudge on, if only for the sake of defeating their enemy and trying to then find a way to reverse the actions of the enraged mother of chakra. Despite Naruto's protests, Kakashi devised a plan on the spot, where Sakura ended up acting as a distraction and Kakashi took on the task of subduing Kaguya. It worked, but Sakura died almost instantly, Kaguya's hair needles piercing her body in multiple places, with their sensei dying by her hand as well - but only after preventing her from moving long enough for Sasuke and Naruto to seal her. 

When they were summoned back to earth by Hagoromo the Sage of Six Paths, and the four reincarnated Hokage, they only got looks of pity and what felt like disappointment; for Naruto it was even more devastating to see his dad look at Kakashi's body with pain in his eyes, and words coming out of the older blonde's mouth that were sentimental but now meaningless, as Hagoromo explained his power had been completely drained, but that he trusted the both of them to find a way to reverse Kaguya's actions, disappearing a moment later and taking the Kage with him.

The tailed beasts – now technically the only beings with chakra apart from both boys - escaped in a frenzy, panicking and fearing a scenario where they became trapped again, finally leaving Sasuke and Naruto in what remained of the battlefield, the branches of the god tree still covering the vast majority of its surface, but they knew the bodies that were hanging off of them were now lifeless inside the wrappings.

They were standing on their lonesome, and for Naruto it was hard looking anywhere else but the ground under him, because at a short distance was his sensei's lifeless body, and just looking at it made his stomach heave; and he hadn't even dared to look at Sakura yet. He had thought of using the same power he used to give Kakashi a healthy eye to revive them somehow, but he cried out in despair when he realized the sun mark on his palm was gone, probably disappearing after Hagoromo left. Not only had he lost the ability to save his precious people, but he had also lost the physical marking that tied him to his other reincarnated half.

"Kill me," Naruto finally said to Sasuke, turning to face him with teary eyes, his hands shaking as he sunk down to his knees, his tone pleading.

"What?" Sasuke replied, his voice low in disbelief, and at that moment he didn't know if it was at the fact that everyone and everything was gone or if it was at the fact that Naruto, _Naruto Uzumaki_ was asking for his own death. Naruto who never gave up, Naruto who always did things with a smile, Naruto who had survived abandonment and solitude throughout his childhood and had overcome it – Naruto who _had_ now given up.

"Kill me! That's what you've wanted all these years isn't it? To destroy Konoha and to kill me? Well you got your wish Sasuke," Naruto sneered, his hands clutching the dirt beneath him like a lifeline, but he wasn't worried, he was willing to die, he'd be with everyone else, even if it meant letting his best friend be the one to take his life.

"I- Naruto, l-listen," Sasuke stuttered, for what felt like the first time in his entire life to him. "Damn it, Naruto, I don't want to kill you. I tried, I really fucking tried to do it before, but I could never bring myself to deliver the killing blow."

Naruto didn't answer, he just continuing to kneel there, his eyes looking completely dead to everything around him, but he did eventually turn to look at Sasuke, his surprise barely there, but Sasuke could see that the words had shocked him.

"I… I can bring them back," Sasuke declares after a pause, covering the eye that bears his Rinnegan with his hand. He knows it won't help much, it'll probably only bring back Sakura and Kakashi, since all the bodies of the other shinobi had been practically completely drained by Kaguya. But at the least, he could give Naruto back two of his precious people, instead of keeping him there with the friend who betrayed him.

Naruto seemed to consider it, but his mind had been made up from the moment he heard the proposal. He just couldn't ask his friend to give up his life, even if it was to bring back two others. He'd always been one to do things differently, he'd find a way to solve this just like he had defeated his enemies before without resorting to killing them before.

"No," Naruto shakes his head, finally daring to look his dark-haired friend in the eyes. "We'll find a way to undo this – together."

* * *

They had taken to traveling around lightning country first, foraging for supplies from the different military shinobi settlements; shedding their torn and unrecognizable clothes along the way, opting instead for standard Konoha chūnin attire sans the flak jacket and using long coats to cover themselves when the temperature dropped.

The first few weeks had been tough, especially for Naruto, and Sasuke had been the only witness to the blonde struggling to cope with the thousands of deaths they hadn't been able to prevent. Right after they decided to travel together, Naruto had sealed Kakashi and Sakura's bodies into a pair of scrolls, and Sasuke hadn't missed the tears that dropped onto the parchment the sunny teen had been working so diligently on.

Naruto had asked him to carry the scrolls, and he had wordlessly accepted, knowing it would be too hard for Naruto to deal with having to carry what was left of his two precious people in his pack at all times; Sasuke had seen the boy break down on more than one occasion before, so he was happy to ease any added pain that could come to Naruto.

On occasion, he had caught Naruto cutting into his own skin with a kunai, crying desperately as Kurama instantly healed his wounds, that being the only sign of life the bijū had been showing since they sealed Kaguya, seeming to be in a morose state of hibernation, not really communicating with its host. When he had seen the jinchūriki cutting himself like that it had angered him at first, but he understood why he was doing it – Naruto was hurt, and the best he could do was try to make him content enough to not have to resort to self-harm, though it was a hard task. Whenever Naruto cried, he held him and tried to comfort him, unless he was asked not to, and that way they had developed a way to soothe each other, often sleeping next to each other at night, the feeling of having someone to hold on to making their loneliness ache less.

It had been a couple of months now, and they had recently left Otogakure, a place they had only stayed at to get more information on possible forbidden jutsus that could aide them in somehow reversing the actions of Kaguya. The first thing they found was more information on the Edo Tensei, and he had seen the hopeful look on Naruto's face crumble once they realized it wouldn't work for them, which gave him a weird ache in his chest; he didn't like seeing Naruto disappointed. Theoretically, if the army of White Zetsus still existed, they could have reanimated hundreds of shinobi using those bodies, to then bring them back to life with the Rinnegan. Unfortunately, the only viable DNA they had at hand was Kakashi and Sakura's, and it would also take Sasuke sacrificing himself to make the idea work; there were simply too many issues with using the Edo Tensei to bring people back to life.

They had retrieved hundreds of scrolls from Orochimaru's hideouts before leaving, and they now found themselves in Takigakure. Naruto had chosen the trajectory of their travels, while taking input from Sasuke, who gave it out as he saw fit, though he always avoided mentioning Konoha, quickly having realized from the places they had visited already and their future plans that Naruto was completely steering clear from stepping foot in the Land of Fire altogether.

As he now glanced at his blonde companion, he couldn't help but wonder how they got here. Sure, their chances of beating Kaguya hadn't been great to start, but possibly one of the worst possible outcomes of the war had come true in the end, something he still couldn't really grasp fully - everything was so different now, themselves included.

Naruto was quieter and more subdued, and he couldn't deny the fact that he missed his boisterous personality. His hair had grown, his bangs covering a little bit more of his forehead, framing his whiskered face in blonde locks of hair. He had taken to using Sakura's Konoha forehead protector which he had salvaged from her pack as a headband like she had, and though Sasuke thought it a bit strange, he didn't comment on it.

Sitting on the roof of what had been the residence of Takigakure's leader and overlooking the now devoid-of-life village with the enormous tree in the middle of it was somewhat bizarre to Sasuke. Though he had always been somewhat antisocial ever since the murder of his clan, he had been used to seeing places bubbling with people, loud chatter and laughter, and now, the only sounds he could hear were birds chirping and waterfalls. And though his misguided vision had been to take the lives of even those who were innocent, he now realized that a world without _life_ itself was a sad sight.

"What about time-travel?" Naruto suddenly asked him, interrupting his rather melancholic thoughts.

"It could be possible, but I've never heard of a jutsu capable of that," he replied, and he did give it consideration. In the past the notion of time-travel would have seemed too unrealistic to him, but with the things he had seen in the last three years it was definitely a possibility, the only question was _how_. Ultimately, it was just another theory being added to the various others they had come up with over the course of their traveling; it was nevertheless something worth looking into.

"We've seen weirder stuff, you can dimension travel yourself," Naruto murmured, unconsciously agreeing with what he had just been thinking.

He nodded, only to have his breath hitch when he felt the blonde lay his head on his shoulder. Their hands were awfully close on the tiled roof, and he couldn't really tell where the urge to hold Naruto's hand came from, but he withheld from doing it. They spent what felt like hours sitting there, watching the water run and the few animals that were around go through their routine. Naruto hadn't moved his head from his shoulder even once, and at one point he thought his friend had fallen asleep.

"We'll get 'em all back, 'ttebayo," Naruto finally whispered, his blue eyes focused on the magnificent tree in front of them, with healthy green leaves and sturdy branches.

"Hn," he grunted in response, because he didn't need to add anything. He didn't really have the words to explain the feeling that Naruto acting with conviction and confidence again gave him, all he knew is that he believed the blonde, and he was glad to be the one to help him get there.

* * *

Nearly six months later, they entered the Land of Wind, and Sasuke didn't have to look twice at Naruto to know that he was thinking about that redheaded boy, Gaara, the Ichibi jinchūriki. Whenever Naruto remembered someone, he got a far-off look in his eyes, which would sometimes get misty and wet, but nowadays, he didn't really let the tears fall if he could help it.

Traversing the desert was harder than he remembered, but it made sense, since they were definitely not at the same physical fitness level they had been in when the war took place, taking into account they now spent most of their time looking over old scrolls and trying to learn fūinjutsu, in an attempt to create _something_ that would help them achieve their goal.

Walking into Sunagakure made him shudder, it was by far the place they had been in that looked the most abandoned. There was nothing _green_ , and the huge branches of the god tree had begun to decay, but the damage they had done to the various buildings didn't go unnoticed. They quickly searched the village for more supplies, clothing and food, as well as any techniques that looked interesting from their library. After all, from what Naruto told him there had been a woman here who had known of a life transfer jutsu, so it was not farfetched to think that the shinobi of Suna had been dabbling in more forbidden arts.

They were currently in the Suna aviary, mainly because Naruto wanted to see if any hawks still hung around, but they also took the chance to scavenge for anything they might find useful. Unsurprisingly, there were no hawks or any other type of bird in the aviary, so Sasuke chose to look through the last messages received, finding missives and messages pertaining to the war. It felt somewhat weird to read things written by other people about the war, and from what he was reading, people had been really scared, and had had a deep disdain for Obito - or Madara if the dates of the messages were anything to go by - someone he had allied himself with at one point, a wrong he didn't really know how to right. 

"Sasuke, come look at this!" Naruto suddenly called out to him, and he turned around expecting some type of important discovery, but as he walked over to the blonde, all he saw in his hands was a small radio-like looking device.

"Look, look! It plays music!" Naruto said, looking truly excited over something for the first time in a while. And the thing, now identified as a music player, did indeed play music, but it sounded scratchy and sometimes cut off at random intervals.

"It looks broken," he replied, to which his traveling companion only responded with a pout, calling him a 'moody bastard' under his breath, but he didn't seem to be deterred by his unenthusiasm.

Despite not having much interest in the music player himself, he couldn't help a small smile from appearing on his face when he heard Naruto begin to hum softly along to the music as he fiddled with the volume rockers and such.

As he looked at Naruto, that strange feeling in his stomach he'd been feeling recently appeared again, and though not necessarily unpleasant, it was an unknown, something he didn't like. Maybe it was related to the warm feeling in his chest that he got when he saw Naruto actually smiling for once, something he didn't do much since they lost everyone else to Kaguya.

He didn't know if it was due to the fact that they were literally the last two people on earth or not, but as the sun shone bright through the aviary windows, casting light from behind Naruto, he ended up thinking that the jinchūriki looked _beautiful_ , a word he hadn't really associated with him before. The sun was making his hair seem almost white and like it was glowing; it made the dobe look ethereal and elegant. He couldn't help but think that if Naruto was capable of reading his mind, he'd probably be laughing at him right at that moment.

Naruto ended up dragging them out of the aviary when he found nothing else of interest, walking out of the building giddily with his newfound treasure in hand. But when Naruto started moving toward what seemed like a greenhouse, he couldn't help but frown. Though they were still pretty far away from it, he had good vision, and the glass structure looked like it was filled with more brown than green, but the blonde was too far gone ahead already, so he had no real way to get him away from there without seeming crazy.

When he finally entered the greenhouse, it was to see Naruto looking at the dead greenery with that dreaded far-off look in his eyes. He walked closer as Naruto brought his hand up to one of the leaves, his fingers trembling slightly as the now brown and stiff plant cracked and crumbled under his touch.

"They're all dead," Naruto said, and Sasuke knew he wasn't just talking about the various plants strewn about.

"They are," he replied. As much as he wanted to wrap his arms around Naruto at that moment, it was an important step that he was taking, it was acceptance of their new reality, though he could still be somewhat bitter that their day which had been going alright so far was now ruined.

Just when he thought Naruto might begin to cry, instead he found a determined look in the blonde's face, something he hadn't seen in a long while now. He stood there not really knowing what to do while Naruto moved quickly around him, rummaging through the things scattered about and collecting practically all the gardening equipment that had been left abandoned in the greenhouse, storing it all in a scroll when he was done.

"I think I'm ready to leave Suna, Sasuke," Naruto told him when he finished rolling up the scroll, hoisting his pack back up on his shoulders. 

"Good, me too."

* * *

After leaving Suna, they decided to settle down in a more long-term fashion inside of a cabin located right at the edge of where the Land of Rivers met the Land of Fire; it was much closer to Konoha than any other place they'd been in before over the course of the past several months.

Naruto had instantly taken to what he called making the place more their own, decorating and using the few personal items they had and carried around to make the place feel more homely. The blonde had also started a small garden by the cabin, planting the seeds he had taken from the Suna greenhouse while Sasuke watched, which had sort of become a routine for them.

When he didn't sit outside to watch Naruto do his gardening, it was just as endearing to see him come into the cabin outfitted in the overalls they had taken from one village or another, dirt covering his arms from hand to elbow and some more on his face, looking tired but completely satisfied and happy with the work he was doing.

While they technically had every piece of food in the world available to them – and they _had_ taken some supplies to feed themselves from different villages – they had started to hunt regularly, and it came surprisingly easy to them with their shinobi training, being able to have a nice meal every day with what they managed to get in the wild, the herbs and vegetables Naruto had grown, and whatever else they had found while traveling.

As they spent more and more time together, Sasuke could feel the reasons that had made him like Naruto initially in their genin squad make themselves more evident again day by day; Naruto was determined, selfless, and just as sweet as he had been years ago. When Naruto had told him out of the blue that he had planted tomatoes in the garden, without even him needing to ask for it, he hadn't really known what to say in response, and if asked, he wouldn't really be able to deny that he had clammed up completely, feeling some sort of adoration for the slightly younger boy at that precise moment.

They also occupied a good amount of their time together on a small hill near their cabin, watching clouds or stargazing when the night sky was most visible, which was exactly what they were doing that night. When they headed up there, they didn't really bother with bringing things, and though Naruto had recommended taking a blanket to lie on when they first went, it quickly became clear that just the soft, green grass was enough to make it enjoyable.

"Was what happened in the war… like when you lost your family?" Naruto asked him suddenly, his eyes only seeming to focus on the stars and the moon above them.

"It was probably a similar feeling," he replied, ' _for you'_ going unsaid, because he couldn't gainsay that he hadn't been as affected by the whole thing as Naruto had been; he was numb to it to an extent, having had lost his entire clan in one night. He hadn't even had many significant connections to people when they became the last two people on earth, the faces of Karin, Suigetsu and Jugo being the most significant ones he remembered from time to time. 

"Hmmm," Naruto hummed in response, turning his face to look at him just as he turned his own, their eyes meeting in the dark, and they both quickly looked away, switching their gazes back to the night sky.

"Do you resent me?" he decided to ask Naruto after a long pause, and though he had an inkling as to what the answer may be, after spending such a long time by himself with the blonde boy, he felt as though he _needed_ to know what Naruto thought of him.

"I- yeah, I did for a bit," Naruto said after another pause that felt like the longest minute of Sasuke's life.

"When we lost them all, when Sakura-chan and Kakashi-sensei died, it just- it felt like you didn't care, and as soon as it happened you didn't want to kill me anymore, it felt like you had won, like you got what you wanted. You wanted to see Konoha gone, and it basically happened; it felt like you were happy while I had lost everything," the blonde explained, his eyes still focused on the bright stars, not the dark-haired boy beside him.

"It didn't really help that you sort of helped Obito in the start y'know? I can't deny that I had this ugly feeling that was telling me it was partly your fault that everyone was gone," Naruto went on, and as he did Sasuke felt like someone was squeezing his heart and sucking all the breath out of him at the same time. To hear, from Naruto's own mouth no less, that the blonde shinobi had indeed felt that way toward him made him feel like the lowest scum on earth.

"I don't feel that way anymore though, I haven't for a while now. When you first left, I promised to bring you back, no matter what it took, and I knew which path you had chosen. Yeah, you made some mistakes, and so did I, a lot of people made mistakes that got us where we are now, but I forgive you Sasuke," the jinchūriki finished, finally turning to really look at him, blue eyes seeming to glow in the dark, and as he was about to reply, he felt his hand being grabbed by Naruto, who squeezed it gently with a small smile decorating his face.

"You don't have to say anythin', just know you're forgiven for everything… and I hope I am too," Naruto stated decidedly, turning his face to look back up at the starlit sky, but their hands stayed linked together by their sides on the soft grass.

And as usual, he didn't really reply, he just squeezed Naruto's hand back, and as they continued to lie there together deep into the night, Sasuke couldn't help but think that even if he had been slightly annoyed by the blonde in the past, he wouldn't choose anyone else to be stranded with as the last two people on earth.

* * *

Not too soon after that night where they hashed out their feelings, the first full year had passed since the war. Sasuke had been keeping track of the days, and when October tenth rolled by again, he had been somewhat happy with being able to celebrate Naruto's birthday with him, but when he told him it was his birthday, the reaction he got was in fairness something he should've seen coming.

Naruto had broken down for the first time in a while, and October tenth was no longer a happy day, though it hadn't ever really been the happiest of days for the blonde to start. No longer was it just the day his home was brutally attacked, the day his parents died and the day he became a demon host, but it was also now the day that a horrific war had come to an end, and the day he had become one of the last two people left alive afterwards, losing almost everyone dear to him in the process.

He had comforted the jinchūriki as he had been doing for the past months, and since then they stopped keeping track of the days, something that was kind of useless to them anyway. By that point, their relationship had already taken a turn, no longer being able to be classified as just friendship, and becoming something deeper.

For Sasuke it was an indescribable feeling to hold Naruto in his arms, to kiss him and make love to him; it was overwhelming in some ways to have the person that has been a constant in your life longing for you in return. At first he had questioned if this was just an outcome of them being the last two people left, only being able to interact with one another, but the more rational part of his brain insisted that this was a natural route for them to take – he had always known in his heart that he'd stop running from Naruto at some point, and the idea of them being romantically involved wasn't something that had caused him discomfort, even if it was something he had rarely, if ever, seriously considered as a possibility.

At first, it had been a little odd for him; Naruto was simply a lot, though now he came to realize that that was not necessarily a bad thing. At night, the blonde got way too close, snaking his arms and legs around him and breathing on his neck or chest; he had to hold Naruto while sleeping, and to comfort him when necessary, but he couldn't deny that being needed was something that he enjoyed. Whenever they fought, it hurt deeper than it ever did before, the feelings they held for each other making everything feel more personal, but the fights didn't ever last long – they knew each other too well to hold a grudge. So, even though Naruto sometimes ruined his sleep with his constant moving around, and even though Naruto would occasionally put him through hell when they fought, Naruto was there to constantly support him, and he didn't know if he'd be able to make it through without Naruto by his side to make him feel like he was alive when everything was so _dead_ around them.

A few years passed by slowly but not unpleasantly, and though their efforts toward reversing the destruction Kaguya unleashed on their world weren't exactly unfruitful and had been a constant aspect of their lives, it was around the fourth year after the war when they began to realize that perhaps it just wasn't possible, and they would be better off accepting and moving on, rather than wasting away trying to achieve the unachievable because of a sense of duty – though it _was_ also something they both desired. Therefore, although they never ceased to look for a way to bring back those they lost, they decided to also live a little, and the biggest change came into that fourth year, when offhandedly and rather abruptly, Naruto suggested going to Konoha.

The trip was slow and though Naruto had a somber expression on his face that made his heart clench uncomfortably, they both knew this was a necessary step to take toward healing, so they trudged on with determined steps, their faces older than when they had last been inside the village where they were both born. Seeing as they took the main road to Konohagakure, the first thing they saw were the big, reconstructed wooden gates that helped secure the village, forced open by one of the God Tree's branches. As they walked inside, the most noticeable things were said gigantic branches that had become so familiar to them, seemingly crawling the streets and even going through some buildings, along with what they knew to be bodies hanging off of them. They had grown used to seeing the wrapped up bodies hanging from those branches as they moved around different villages, but Sasuke couldn't deny it was a little different when you knew those bodies belonged to people you had known, and he couldn't stop the morbid thought that perhaps someone close to them, like their academy instructor, Iruka, was hanging above them; he hoped Naruto wasn't thinking the same.

The second thing they noticed was that the years hadn't been kind to their home village, nature taking over though not to an overwhelming level, grass and plants beginning to grow and overtake construction, covering streets and houses, making it look greener and more abandoned than ever before. Their aimless walking led them to what had been the Uchiha district first, and unlike previous years, it now looked like the best-preserved area of the village, of course, it had been reconstructed and now looked nothing like it had before, but strangely enough one of the old walls had been kept, the Uchiha fan still plastered on the concrete. He assumed people still held disdain for what had been the Uchiha district, seeing as how there were no branches to speak of, which meant there had been no chakra for the God Tree to take.

It had been about eight years since he had last really stood near what had been the home to his clan, having chosen to completely ignore the area when he had gone with Orochimaru to the Naka shrine during the pinnacle of the war, and seeing it now, after so long, just served to remind him of all he had lost in his arguably short life. As a kid, between the ages of seven and twelve, he had grown used to the feeling of loneliness, but he hadn't been truly _alone_ , and now, after the war, the feeling of being utterly alone suddenly began to feel crushing, his breathing becoming more labored as his stare focused on the cracked and dull Uchiha fan on the wall in front of him.

"Sasuke," he suddenly heard from his right, and only then did he look down and see his hand being held by Naruto's, a reassuring squeeze helping him calm down.

"I'm here," Naruto stated, and he was. Though they had lost everyone after the war, he hadn't lost Naruto Uzumaki, and though it may be selfish, he'd rather have him than anyone else. As he looked down at bright blue eyes with a clearer mind, he knew he wasn't really alone, even if the feeling of loneliness that had defined his youth may rear its ugly head again once in a while.

"Sorry, I don't know what came over me," he grunted, squeezing Naruto's hand back.

"It's fine, wanna go see my apartment?" Naruto asked and he nodded, though he was a tad confused as to what Naruto was referring to, since practically every building had been destroyed after the village was invaded by the Akastsuki leadership before the war.

He was led to a small apartment complex that looked completely different from what Naruto's home had looked like back when they had been genin, starting by the fact that although it was unkept and covered by vines and other plants, it looked infinitely better than the dump Naruto had been placed in as a child.

"I stayed here after the whole village getting destroyed thing and before the war," Naruto explained in response to his bewildered look, leading him inside the building and up some stairs. The door wasn't locked, but the small place looked intact, if albeit very sparsely decorated.

Naruto completely ignored the kitchen and what looked to have been destined toward becoming a living room, heading straight for the bedroom as he began to rummage through a set of drawers on a dresser, finally emerging with what Sasuke presumed he had been looking for a minute later.

Getting closer and looking over the blonde's shoulder, he could see those tanned hands clutching the picture of Team 7, still safely encased by its wooden frame, but it looked dusty and the glass had small cracks.

"I managed to recover this from the rubble after Pein attacked… I remember being so happy to find it," Naruto said, and from his vantage point Sasuke could see the small droplets fall gently on the dusty glass, but before he could attempt to comfort Naruto, the blonde turned around, looking at him and back at the picture with a fond smile and teary eyes.

"I really miss them," Naruto stated, and Sasuke didn't need to ask to know he wasn't just talking about Kakashi and Sakura.

"You looked grumpy in this picture though," the blonde said with a cheeky smile after a pause.

* * *

After Naruto pocketed the picture and took a few other trinkets from what had been his temporary apartment, they headed out again, walking around the now deserted village at a leisurely pace, and though the red building that housed what had been the Hokage's office still loomed large as a centerpiece to the village, they decided to not go inside, instead choosing to head up the Hokage Rock.

Sasuke vaguely remembered Naruto painting it as a prank when they had been children, and even though, in the end he hadn't felt much of an attachment for Konoha, even he could admit that the mountain that depicted the Hokage's faces carved into it was still an imposing backdrop for the village, and as far as he knew, the monument was even now somewhat important to Naruto. 

When they finally got to the top of the mountain the sun was already setting, casting a faint orange glow over the entire village. Sasuke took it all in, knowing that this was most likely the last time he'd ever see his place of birth; he couldn't say he was entirely unhappy about it though. He had aspired to make Konoha better at one point, cleansing it of its rotten parts and making it a place that his orphaned younger self wouldn't have felt alienated from, but in the end, maybe leaving that dream behind for better things was for the best.

"Sasuke," Naruto suddenly addressed him, looking at him with an expression he couldn't really make out, which was somewhat worrying considering the amount of time they had spent together, and by themselves for the past four years.

"Can I have the scrolls?" the blonde asked him, and he instantly knew which scrolls the blonde was referring to, they were some of the very few scrolls he carried everywhere since the moment Naruto entrusted him with their care.

He nodded, taking out the two small scrolls from his pack and handing them wordlessly to the jinchūriki, who only smiled at him gently in appreciation, before kneeling on the ground and placing the two items next to him on the rocky surface. With a quick doton jutsu, two big holes had been made on the ground, and with a shuddering breath, Naruto proceeded to unseal both scrolls, Kakashi and Sakura's perfectly preserved bodies appearing with a poof, and he saw Naruto look away before he seemed to regain his composure.

Seeing Sakura's body as It had been during the war was somewhat strange, but it only made him realize how absurdly _young_ they had been, with the weight of the world literally placed on their shoulders. They had become soldiers at the ripe age of twelve, expected to kill and be killed for their village, and only at the age of sixteen were they being expected to save the world – the thought of how they had had their childhood ripped away from them was enough to make him want to vomit.

He helped ease both bodies into their respective graves, but he kept his distance as Naruto placed a pair of silver bells he retrieved from his pocket on top of Kakashi's chest, before unfastening the red forehead protector he very rarely wore nowadays from his head, repeating the process with Sakura before he quickly covered the holes with another use of doton.

He didn't even notice when Naruto made two wooden crosses and placed them over the graves, eerily similar to the ones they had made as a team for Zabuza and Haku in Wave. In the end they just sat there, looking over Konoha in what they both subconsciously knew was the final time they'd be in this village.

Through it all he felt awful, not because he had been attached to the village or its people, but because he couldn't even begin to imagine how Naruto felt.

* * *

They left Konohagakure as soon as night fell, getting to the cabin a full day later, because even though the tone of their walk back had a somewhat urgent tone to it, no danger would ever be waiting for them in those empty roads.

As soon as they were though the door, Naruto instantly latched onto him, dropping both of their packs carelessly on the floor as the blonde guided him to the small bedroom, flopping backwards onto the bed, dragging him down with him. Naruto's fingers were carding through his hair, the caresses gentle but somewhat heartbreaking considering what they had been doing just the night before.

"Sasuke, I need you," Naruto whispered in his ear, and just hearing that made his heart swell. When he had been young, he had foolishly thought Naruto had been leaving him behind as he became stronger, but the blonde had always needed him in one way or another, and he had been to blind to see it. He could've had this feeling much earlier, but he had been a fool and he had ran – who even knows what their relationship would've looked like had he stayed in Konoha.

As he buried himself deep into his blonde lover, he knew that this was more than just sex, it was reassurance that they were there for each other, that even if they _weren't_ the last two people on earth, they'd be there for each other. They were now each other's home, and this time Sasuke wasn't even tempted to leave.

They had had sex what felt like countless times before, but to Sasuke this time was entirely different. Naruto was clinging to him harder than normal, if that was even possible, and barely any words were spoken between them, but the way the blonde was looking up at him told him all he had to know. He didn't need to say Naruto to say _'I love you'_ even though he did more often than not, he just needed to see the feelings expressed by those blue eyes that had been a constant presence in his life, ever since that first time he _really_ saw them sitting on that small dock.

Their bodies moved in perfect synchronization even as it began to get a little messy when they approached their climax, and when he finally let himself go inside Naruto, he couldn't believe it basically took them becoming the last two people alive for him to finally look at the blonde this way. Sure, he had always noticed Naruto, and even back then he had admitted to himself that he couldn't have been capable of taking Naruto's life, but he had never thought of being with the other man like _this_ , something he was eternally grateful to have now. Even before losing everyone to the war, it had always somewhat felt like they had only had eyes for each other, and Sasuke hoped that had things turned out differently, he would've eventually realized that Naruto was his entire world.

* * *

The next morning, they left the cabin after packing up all their important things in a series of scrolls, leaving a good number of things behind. While Naruto said a quick goodbye to his carefully grown garden and to the animals that frequented their temporary home, Sasuke was busy thinking of where they'd be going next. Before settling down in the cabin, they had traversed most of the major regions and their respective villages, each one of them having gone to different other places through missions or expeditions before the war, so eventually they settled for just traveling, no real direction in mind.

Their trip took weeks, and they eventually found themselves in what they assumed to be the northwestern border of the land of earth, which from Sasuke's limited knowledge, was somewhat uncharted, unexplored territory. It wasn't really wise to keep moving forward in that direction, since they'd have nowhere to settle down with some infrastructure already established for them to take advantage of, and gathering resources would prove much more difficult. Sasuke noticed that Naruto looked uncomfortable at the thought of going back to the land where the God Tree had taken so many lives, but they both eventually agreed on turning back.

They decided to camp out for one final night in the semi-barren mountains they had found themselves in, and when early morning came and they started to pack up their things, Sasuke was startled by a gasp of surprise coming from his blonde lover and companion.

"Sasuke, look," Naruto said once he reached the blonde's side, and they both found themselves looking over a cliff by the mountainside. There, nestled deep into a chasm of sorts, was what seemed like a moderately sized camp, a campfire still seemingly impossible lit, years having gone by since Kaguya had come.

"Survivors?" he murmured mostly to himself, because as ridiculous as the notion was, it felt like the only logical explanation as to how the small settlement seemed lived-in, a fire that would go out within in a day if not looked out for still burning passionately.

"We have to go check it out," the blonde whispered next to him, and he instantly nodded in response, the entire situation easily being the most bizarre circumstance they had found themselves in within nearly five years of traveling the world together.

They headed down the cliff through a small incline, instead of jumping or climbing down with chakra, lest they startle any possible people inside the camp they were zoning in on. He could feel how tense Naruto was next to him, his breath labored and hitched in anticipation, and the only thing he could think to do was grab the blonde's hand, keeping a slow pace toward the set of tents placed around the campfire. As soon as they got relatively close, a rugged looking man came out from the biggest tent, looking at them curiously while Naruto stiffened and gasped beside him.

That man was the first _living_ person they had seen in five years, and his mind was immediately invaded with thoughts of _how_ that was possible, how had this person survived the event that had wiped out everyone they knew, _how_ was he standing there looking at them and smiling sheepishly as he if he hadn't been one of the only people to not die like so many did thanks to Kaguya. Looking at the man through his bangs with his Rinnegan provided the answer, because the tall man in front of them seemingly had no chakra network, so of course he didn't get wrapped up in the Infinite Tsukuyomi, but that only sprung up more questions in his mind.

"You boys need somethin'?" he heard the man ask, and Naruto only stuttered in response.

"He has no chakra network," he whispered in Naruto's ear, who only gawked back at him and muttered a 'What?' looking entirely conflicted and extremely displaced by the entire situation.

"We're travelers," he finally addressed the man, and the question came out in a normal tone, but inside he could feel himself crumbling and barely resisting the urge to ask this man every question that was plaguing his brain.

"So are we, come, I'll introduce you to the others," the man said in an inviting tone, and while Sasuke asked himself why this person was so blindly _trusting_ of them, he found himself being tugged along by Naruto before he could protest.

They ended up sitting down on logs beside the fire as night set, the man introducing himself and the thirteen other people in his group, but Sasuke couldn't really bring himself to remember any names as they talked about mundane things that didn't answer _anything_ that he wanted to know.

It all felt extremely surreal, and he could tell Naruto felt the same way, the blonde seeming to be in a daze as he participated in the conversation and tried to answer questions for the both of them as best he could; Naruto had always been better at interacting with people. The group apparently trusted them, but Sasuke couldn't really imagine why, but it didn't really matter because Naruto seemed satisfied with that – and he'd follow Naruto wherever the blonde went.

Deep into the night when people had started to head off into their tents to sleep, they were left alone with the man who had welcomed them initially, who told them the group was heading in that same northwestern direction they had been following, _away_ from everything they knew. The man said they were free to join them, while also letting them stay the night in their camp regardless of their decision, before he headed off and inside his tent himself.

When they were both settled in inside their own tent which they set up close to the others, their decision was obvious and didn't even need to be discussed. Despite how many questions he still had and how little trust he had in those strangers, he wanted to see Naruto happy, and he wouldn't fool himself into thinking that it'd be a good idea to not take this chance, a chance at starting anew, of living their life together with others, of seeing _life_ again.

So they found themselves the next day following the group of thirteen, and he only looked back once at the footprints they were leaving behind. Saying goodbye was hard, and though he blamed himself for not fulfilling his promise of undoing what Kaguya did to their world, he'd be giving a life to a _new_ world, and it would be of their own making.

**Author's Note:**

> if you got to the end of this messy, somewhat long oneshot, thanks for reading! if you enjoyed it feel free to leave a kudos or bookmark it, or even leave a comment, see ya :)


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